Data Program Manager - Science

About the Team
OpenAI’s Research Data team exists to accelerate the evaluation, safety and capabilities of our models and products. Made up of technical operators and software engineers, we design the methods through which we acquire and create data.

About the Role
As a Data Program Manager, Science, you will help researchers develop and execute scientific data programs, connecting OpenAI’s research priorities with relevant data, expertise and external partners.

You’ll work closely with researchers to understand their needs, assess the scientific and practical value of opportunities, and develop partnerships across the scientific ecosystem. The work could range from acquiring existing datasets to shaping research collaborations. You’ll carry opportunities from initial investigation through commercial discussions, agreements, delivery and research use, exercising sound judgement around sensitive data and relationships.

Our current work focuses particularly on biology and chemistry. We welcome different combinations of scientific, technical and partnership experience.

This role is based in our San Francisco HQ.

In this role, you will:

• Develop data strategies with Research. Translate research goals, model limitations and evaluation gaps into evidence needs and success criteria. Compare acquisition with internal, public and commissioned alternatives.

• Find distinctive sources for research. Build trusted local and international relationships across research and industry, including organisations at the scientific frontier.

• Assess opportunities in scientific context. Inspect samples for provenance, context, quality and completeness. Assess usefulness, involving researchers and specialists as needed.

• Shape partnerships with lasting scientific value. Understand partners’ ambitions and define pilots, deliverables and acceptance criteria, considering expertise, scientific contribution and continuing relationships alongside commercial terms.

• Lead commercial and operational execution. Develop proposals, assess pricing and negotiate terms. Coordinate Legal, Privacy, Security, Procurement and engineering to clarify permissions, responsibilities and delivery.

• Navigate sensitive collaborations. Understand institutional interests and confidentiality. Identify ethical, privacy, security and misuse concerns early, involving specialists to develop responsible arrangements.

• Follow through into research use. Coordinate preparation, ingestion, access and documentation. Gather researcher feedback to inform whether to expand, change or stop.

• Make thoughtful portfolio decisions. Recommend options based on research value, cost, timing and capacity. Identify shared needs and opportunities for useful collaboration across projects.

• Make the work more repeatable. Use code, APIs, automation and AI tools to improve sourcing, assessment and delivery. Resolve recurring blockers with engineers and retain partner knowledge and research feedback.

You might thrive in this role if you:

• Have substantial grounding in biology, chemistry or related sciences through research, industry or equivalent experience, and engage critically with methods and evidence.

• Have delivered complex scientific, data or partnership projects, with depth in one or more of scientific data and evaluation, commercial partnerships or research collaborations across organisations.

• Exercise sound judgement: test claims, match evidence to research needs and make clear recommendations while acknowledging uncertainty.

• Work directly with data: inspect unfamiliar files, investigate quality and use Python, SQL, APIs and AI-assisted coding to answer questions and reduce manual work.

• Build trust through careful listening, precise questions and thoughtful negotiation. You bring relevant local and international relationships, or a demonstrated ability to develop them, and understand what partners value beyond the transaction.

• Exercise discretion, recognising the limits of your expertise and authority and when scientific, ethical or safety questions need specialist input.

• Thrive in a fast-moving environment, taking broad ownership across multiple projects and moving readily between scientific, technical and commercial questions. You prioritise thoughtfully as needs change, making clear decisions about where to focus and what can wait.

• Enjoy getting your hands dirty, bringing energy and creative problem solving to unfamiliar or ambiguous opportunities. You turn them into practical plans and follow through on the details.

• Learn exceptionally quickly, developing your understanding of AI training, evaluation and unfamiliar research areas to become a useful collaborator.

• We welcome different combinations of scientific, technical and partnership experience. You do not need equal depth in every area.

About OpenAI

OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company dedicated to ensuring that general-purpose artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity. We push the boundaries of the capabilities of AI systems and seek to safely deploy them to the world through our products. AI is an extremely powerful tool that must be created with safety and human needs at its core, and to achieve our mission, we must encompass and value the many different perspectives, voices, and experiences that form the full spectrum of humanity. 

We are an equal opportunity employer, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability, genetic information, or other applicable legally protected characteristic.

For additional information, please see OpenAI’s Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity Policy Statement.

Background checks for applicants will be administered in accordance with applicable law, and qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment consistent with those laws, including the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, and the California Fair Chance Act, for US-based candidates. For unincorporated Los Angeles County workers: we reasonably believe that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship with the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of a conditional offer of employment: protect computer hardware entrusted to you from theft, loss or damage; return all computer hardware in your possession (including the data contained therein) upon termination of employment or end of assignment; and maintain the confidentiality of proprietary, confidential, and non-public information. In addition, job duties require access to secure and protected information technology systems and related data security obligations.

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